St Albans and Welwyn Circuit Service for 8th January 2023
Prepared by – Chris Hancock
Call to Worship from Psalm 29 – NIV
Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name; worship the Lord in holy splendour. The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is full of majesty… and in his temple all say, ‘Glory!’
Our opening hymn speaks of our desire that Jesus fill our hearts and souls with the light of God and that that light might be seen and responded to by all of the world.
StF 173 Into the Darkness of the world
Prayers and Lords Prayer
Let us pray,
As we pray, we come to God in worship. we open our hearts and minds to the awesome God of creation.
Called to worship, as the Psalmist says, we lift our voices and our prayers and shout and sing Glory!
Loving God you know each one of us by name, you know everything about us, from the smallest part of our individual cells to the very breadth of our existence and you love us with a love without limits. How wonderful is that love which brings us hope and peace. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
We say together the prayer which Jesus taught us: “Our Father who art in heaven…..
StF 330 Joy to the world
Isaiah Chapter 42 Verses 1 – 7
The Servant of the Lord
42 “Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen one in whom I delight;
I will put my Spirit on him,
and he will bring justice to the nations.
2 He will not shout or cry out,
or raise his voice in the streets.
3 A bruised reed he will not break,
and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.
In faithfulness he will bring forth justice;
4 he will not falter or be discouraged
till he establishes justice on earth.
In his teaching the islands will put their hope.”
5 This is what God the Lord says—
the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out,
who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it,
who gives breath to its people,
and life to those who walk on it:
6 “I, the Lord, have called you in righteousness;
I will take hold of your hand.
I will keep you and will make you
to be a covenant for the people
and a light for the Gentiles,
7 to open eyes that are blind,
to free captives from prison
and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.
Matthew 3 v 13-17 – NIV
The Baptism of Jesus
13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. 14 But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”
15 Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.
16 As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”
SERMON
In my last Circuit Service I spoke of the blowing away of the chaff of our lives. Today’s readings give us a further image to help us with this area of our lives and in particular our relationship with Jesus. God has two kinds of children. He has us, who often fall short of what God wants for us, who do things that hurt others and ourselves. And he has Jesus, his holy Son. I like to use the image of a pair of hands one which is grimy and requires washing and one which is clean. God sees the sin of the world and says – “you must be washed clean”. The clean Son of God joins the dirty children of God and together they are cleaned – like one hand washing the other. We hear about our being made clean in the Bible reading for today. People are coming to be baptised – like we are baptised. They wanted their sins washed away. But water alone will not take away sin. So Jesus came to be baptised too. He had no sin, but he shared in the sin of the rest of us. He let us put our grime and mess on Him. Then he died on the cross to wash and rinse all the dirt away. Each time you use one hand to wash the other. Remember that each day you are made clean again because Jesus still lives with you. He is still the holy Son of God – come to wash you clean.
He is our Redeemer, our Saviour. We need not be afraid – for he is with us. Sin and evil do not have the last word. Powerful, wonderful love. One hand washes the other – because God loves us, – because we are precious in his sight.
And what does it mean for us today. It means it is never too late. It means that we can begin afresh – no matter what others may say about us, no matter what others might do to us, no matter what we feel about ourselves.
And it means we should approach God – that we should come to God much as the prodigal son approached his father, with humility and with hope: the humility to know that we are not worthy – and the hope to believe that God will, at the very least, treat us as one of the least of his servants and feed us and watch over us far better than we can do on our own.
I really like this image of one hand washing the other It says so much about what the gospel proclaims, about Jesus and what he has done, and is doing, and will yet do,
The scriptures fit together so well – the old and the new. And their message is one and the same throughout – return to God. Return to God for he loves us and does not want us to be separated from him. Join yourself to the holy one who has come to cleanse you and redeem and make you safe. Allow Christ to baptise you with water, fire and the fullness of the Spirit. Live by him and through him as a brother to him – as a sister to him – for now and for eternity. Work alongside him to bring that love to the world. Amen
StF 693 Beauty for Brokeness
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw2SqzRIQFc
Prayers of Intercession
We pray for the church. Those who worship in the churches we are associated with and the wider Christian church. As your people we ask that you encourage and enable us to be your hands, feet and voices in the world. That through the small part we each play in your awesome work of creation we may bring your good news to our own lives, communities and the world.
Secondly, we pray for the world. Living God, as we see the darkness of the world on our televisions and in the news we remember that you are present in every one of these situations. That in the darkness you bring light. Where there is conflict you bring your peace. Into damaged lives and communities you bring your healing.
Finally we pray for those we know and love who are in need of our prayers at this time. In the silence we name them in your presence. We pray that they may feel you especially close cradling them in your loving arms and bringing them peace and wholeness.
We pray these, and all of our prayers, in the all- powerful name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
StF 362 Meekness and Majesty
Blessing
May the peace of God reign in our homes, and the love of God forever hold each of us tight,
May the Spirit of God flow through our lives, and the joy of God uphold us day and night. Amen
Copyright Notices
Hymns
Hymn words where displayed are in the Public Domain.
Hymn organ recordings where used are from Small Church Music. Copyright notice: Rev. Clyde McLennan, performer in this collection, has assigned his performer rights in this collection to Hymnary.org. Non-commercial use of these recordings is permitted.
Other hymns are from YouTube and covered by YouTube copyright processes.
Bible Readings
Bible readings are from the New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Images
Images where used are from pixabay.com and free for commercial use no attribution required.
